Hello, Mr Li: The Christmas Trip

When Heya was done dressing, she looked at her reflection one last time and nodded. A moderate dress, a coat, a low heel, packed hair and mild make up.

She had met Zhu Liang's parents a couple of times but now, it felt like they were starting afresh so she really nervous about having a dinner with them tonight.

When she went to her living room, Zhu Liang stood up and whistled. "Who is this goddess and what did you do with Heya?" 

She giggled. "That's so cheesy." 

"You look pretty." He held out his hand for her and when she took it, he kissed her cheek. 

"Ready to leave?" 

"Ready." She said nervously and left the apartment with him. 

He stole a few glances at her as he drove and noticed how nervous she looked. 

"Relax. You know my family loves you." He assured her. 

"I... don't know. I am trying to be calm but it's not helping." She said, still sounding nervous. 

"Then should we hang out a little? Would you maybe... like some ice cream?" The weather was quite cold but they were a lot of weird people in the world who loved to eat ice creams even during winters and Heya was one of them. 

"What about your parents?" 

"I'll call my mother and let her know we'll be running late. So?" 

"But... you won't say I'm the reason right?" 

He chuckled. "Of course not. You are dying to keep a good profile. I won't ruin it." 

She was able to relax and smile broadly. "Ice cream then. Yay!" 

He smiled and drove them to a nice moderate building where they sold variety of ice creams. 

"Can you go ahead and see if there's any flavour you prefer? I'll just give my mother a call now." 

"You'll also have one right?" She asked.

"Sure." He winked at her and she left after smiling. 

Liang took out his phone and dialed his mother's number. After the second ring, she answered. "Son? When are you two getting here?" 

"Sorry. We'll be running a little late. Hope that wouldn't be a problem?" 

"Why? What are you doing to that girl?" The woman asked suspiciously. 

"Mother!" He chuckled. "We are not doing any

thing. She is just a little nervous about meeting you and father so I took her to get some ice cream." 

"Why is she? We won't eat her." 

"I know. So please, be extra nice when she comes. No too much staring or questions either. You already know all you are supposed to know." 

His mother giggled. "You make it sound like it's the first time she is going to be having dinner with us. I promise I won't make her feel uncomfortable."

"Who is that?" Liang heard his father's voice at the background. 

"Liang. He called to let us know they are going to be running late." 

"Why?" His father asked.

"He is doing naughty things to that girl." 

"Mother!" Liang was flabbergasted. "Okay, I am hanging up now."

He didn't wait to hear anything else before he hung up. 

He chuckled to himself before he went inside the building. The building was popular for chocolates, cakes, parfait and ice creams. When this place officially opened three years ago, he really regretted not being together with Heya then because he knew how much she would have loved it here. He smiled now, seeing he was here together with Heya. 

When he went inside, he noticed most of the customers were parents and their kids. There were also a bunch of young and older couples inside. He finally sighted Heya. She was seriously looking at a bunch of items in a display glass. He smiled when be saw her and began to approach her when he suddenly heard his name from the side.

"Zhu Liang?" The lady called in surprise. When he looked at her face, he recognized her. Hua Tianmei. Their families were really close a few years ago and both parents had actually thought about making them a couple. Her parents owned this place. Lastly, she had been Heya's classmate and the two hated each other with passion! 

"What are you doing here?" She asked, still surprised. "I am glad I came here today. We should sit somewhere and talk. It's been how many years now? I really wanted to give you a call and meet up tomorrow." She said excitedly. Things would have been a lot different for them had that witch not showed up and stole him from her. Now that she was aware they had broken up, she couldn't let go of this opportunity. 

"Calm down. You are rambling." Liang said with a sigh. "And... I'm here with someone so...." 

"Someone? Who?" She frowned in annoyance. 

"Me." 

They both looked at Heya who suddenly appeared beside them, and Tianmei's frown deepened. 

"How come you are with her? I thought you ended things with her already?" She spat out bitterly. 

"You heard wrongly. We are still together." Heya answered before linkng arms with Liang.

Tianmei was seething. She had watched Heya's video earlier and laughed her ass off, happy people were making Heya's life miserable on her behalf and also excited about the break up when she heard about it. If she hadn't listened to Heya's threat earlier about having a good lawyer to those who wanted to mock her, she would have said some hurtful words to her right now. 

"Babe, I saw some combo flavours you are going to love. Come take a look." Heya began to pull Zhu Liang with her. 

He followed her, leaving a baffled Tianmei. 

"I hate that girl!" Heya said when they were away from her. Whenever she saw her, she always remembered how the girl bullied her in school and made her hate the idea of even going to college. 

"I'm sorry." Liang said, causing her to stop walking. 

"Why?" Heya asked in confusion. 

"For talking to her. She just showed up out of nowhere and—" 

"No. No, no no," Heya waved her hands. "Do not apologize. It isn't your fault that you met her here. Besides, her family has always been close to yours so you cannot just ignore her because I hate h—" Heya paused as she remembered something. 

When they were dating some years back, she usually overreacted whenever she saw Zhu Liang with a woman. Even if they had crossed paths by mistake, she blamed him for even smiling at them. It was probably the reason he was apologizing now. Had she always been like that? 

"Oh no! I am so sorry!" She gasped. 

He seemed to understand what she was thinking and smiled. "It's nothing."

"It must have been unbearable." She said, feeling awful. 

"Well, sometimes yea. But I loved you." 

'Yet I was the first to break up with him.' She thought sadly. 

"Stop thinking about stupid things. I'm glad you are... evolving." He settled for that word instead when he couldn't find the right word to use. 

"Let's go get the ice cream and go home. My parents are waiting." 

She nodded and followed him. They held hands as they walked further inside.